It just got harder for Democrats to hold their House majority in 2022

Just one week after the Census Bureau announced which states would be gaining and losing congressional seats before the 2022 election, the dominoes are beginning to fall -- and the news is not good for Democrats desperately clinging to their single-digit majority in the House of Representatives.

The big blow came last Friday, when Illinois Rep. Cheri Bustos, one of just seven Democrats who currently represents a district former President Donald Trump won in 2020, announced she would not run again. While Bustos didn't mention redistricting -- and the news that Illinois' delegation will be forced to shrink by a seat before 2022 -- it's hard not see that, plus the fact that there was no obvious statewide office for her to run for, as contributing to her decision to step aside. While Democrats control the line-drawing process in Illinois, it will be tough to draw a Democratic-friendly district in the western Illinois area that Bustos' 17th district covers. (Trump won the 17th in 2020 and 2016.) Which could cost the party a seat that Democrats can ill afford to lose.